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Wednesday, June 03, 2015

scrap vortex QAL--week one

Today I'd like to kick off the scrap vortex quilt along! It's going to be very informal and hopefully a lot of fun. If you are looking to make a dent in some of your scrap bins, this quilt along is for YOU!

The quilt along will be based on my scrap vortex quilt. You can read all about and see lots (!) more photos here. If you would like to join in the quilt along, collect your scraps--the more the better--and get ready to sew!

My favorite thing about this method of scrap sewing is that you don't need to cut out a bunch of stuff before you begin....you get to start sewing right away! And that's a good thing!

A few tools that I find helpful are: a pair of sharp fabric scissors, a pair of thread snips, a hot iron, a bottle of spray starch and a spray bottle of water. (A steam iron could work in lieu of the spray starch and water bottle.) You will also need a cutting mat, ruler, rotary cutter and a sewing machine.

I find it easiest to set up my work station in an L shape, with my ironing board close to my sewing machine on one side and my cutting station close on the other side. A lot of times I stand and sew.
As you can see, I have a lot of scrap piles to choose from...some on my ironing board, some on the floor, some on the desk. LOTS of options! It's not necessarily a tidy process.

This week's assignment is SUPER easy! Take two scraps that are approximately same length*, press them and sew them together. Chain piecing is a great idea. Make a bunch of pairs and press the seams to the side, preferably toward the darker fabric. Be sure to use a short stitch length (I use a 2) on your sewing machine, so the pieces won't start to come apart when you handle them.

*When you pick two scraps that are about the same length, you are able to use the entire piece of scrap fabric, rather than cutting, trimming and making even more scraps. This method produces very few scrap by-products, except for the few threads when you trim up the piece. (I MAY be obsessive in my scrap usage. :) Aren't you surprised???)

Here is a sampling of the pairs that I sewed together. Notice how the size and shapes of the scraps vary. Some scraps are long and skinny. Some are more chunky. Some are sewn end to end. Some are sewn side to side. Make a bunch of pairs. Variety in shape, color, size and configuration is good.

I would recommend that you find a basket to hold the sewn pairs after you press them. Otherwise, the unsewn scraps can overtake the whole lot!

One other thing...as I sew, I have a "donate" bag to collect the scraps that I simply don't want to use. Don't feel like you HAVE to use every scrap that comes through your hands. You can pass the ones that you don't care for along to someone else. I don't know about you, but sometimes I think that it's nice to have permission to do that.

Most importantly, have FUN with it!

If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them in the comments. If you are planning on sewing along with me, I'd love to know!

Amanda: This is great. The idea of matching scraps of the same length is brilliant beyond words. You are so smart! I am going to jump in on this QAL, even though I have way too many projects going already. I've been saving my scraps for a moment such as this!

I might want to attend as well. We'll see how my baby will allow me to... Maybe a smaller Project like a doll quilt or a pillow? Most of my scraps however, are of odd shapes rather than square or rectangular, will I be able to use them as well, or should I prepare them first?

I used to have my sewing station on a higher desk, and I did not find a suitable chair for it. Therefore, I used to sew standing up for years! You can't do that for long though, but it works especially well when you have to shift between sewing and ironing often, like when working on a patchwork Project.

Definitely - this is one QAL which has my name on it. I have admired your scrap vortex quilt for a while now, but I don't think I would ever pluck up courage to start on my own, so having you alongside as guide and mentor is wonderful. Thank you!

I'm in!I have been feeling the need for some improv sewing lately and this will scratch my itch :)How many pairs should we collect? and will you have a linkup for this qal. I'm like the kid that sits at the front of the class showing the teacher everything she has made LOL

I have been looking forward to this since you mentioned it.Your colors are so lovely and bright. I hope mine are too!Thanks for the tip about giving ourselves to pitch the ones we don't love.I may sew from my huge basket of scraps tonight!

We moved overseas last summer and I sorted all my scraps into warm/cool/neutral tones before we packed up. They've now spent a year jammed into baskets, but I ironed one whole basket last week to get them ready to use for something. My daughter wants to learn to sew and I feel like this is a forgiving project as far as seam allowances go. : )

I feel like the timing of this REQUIRES that I quilt along - school gets out next week!

I use this method to make mission quilts with the donate scraps none of the others want to use. Everyone it always awed by them and think they are so difficult to make! I keep trying to tell them it's really easy...hoping someone else will help me tackle the scraps!

My husband has been bugging me and bugging me to make a scrap quilt. I was thinking that I want to make one and I certainly have LOTS of scrap to work with! What do you do with larger pieces? Like left over binding strips? Or do you just not add them and use them for scrappy bindings?

I'm in too! We're moving this summer and I need something that will force me to throw out unusable scraps and also a project to keep me sane! My scraps are bananas shapes though and it'll be interesting to see how large I can go, right now I feel not very. :) exciting!

I need another project like I need a hole in my head. However, I find your energy contagious and can't resist. I'm supposed to be doing other things of my day, but maybe I'll take a small break and sew some pairs.

I just cleaned up my sewing room and corralled all the scraps into two huge baskets. This is the perfect project to make good use of them and sort out all the ones that might be happier with someone else. Thanks, Amanda!

I certainly don't need any more projects but I think I'm going to have to do this along with you and I am pretty excited about it! I've sorted scraps by color but now I guess I will throw them all back together again!

maybe this is a dumb question, but do you ever worry about your scraps going together? i'm sure that having a wide variety of fabrics makes the quilt beautiful, but how much do you edit which fabrics go in? i'm worried that my scrap pile just isn't cohesive enough to make anything as beautiful as the scrappy beauties you create.

My sewing machine is on a counter height table, so it's very easy to stand and sew. It makes it the process of improv piecing more efficient when you are constantly sewing, pressing, trimming over and over again.

I prefer to have my scraps trimmed up and rectangular before I start sewing, but you could use your scraps as is. It's really up to you! If they are uninspiring to you in the shape they are currently in, I would tidy them up before starting. It's amazing how much that can help!

I usually put my leftover binding strips in my string basket. You could chop them up and use them for this if you wanted to. Usually when I feel like I need more variety, I dig into other categories (such as the string baskets). I hope that helps!

I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say that your scraps don't go together. (That could mean a lot of different things!) I would say, if you have brights (the kind of fabrics you see me using a lot) and not so brights (more traditional colors) I would separate them into two categories. The tones of the fabric matching is very important, if you ask me. But beyond that, I wouldn't worry too much. If you would like further clarification, please let me know and I can send or post photos, if that would help.

that is a great question! I will try to address that in the next QAL blog post. Hopefully!!! For now, just sew the pairs of fabrics that you like together. Ones in question can just be set aside for the time being.

I missed this post...didn't realize you have started your QAL. I'm looking forward to this one. It's a sew along that I can really get into. Thanks so much for sharing a quilt project that will allow me to use up a bunch of my scraps ;-))

Thanks for answering my question, Amanda. I missed that Niina had asked almost the same thing.I'm trimming, don't want that job all at once!I felt about the same as Mary Burnette. My stash/scraps span about 35 years so there are many styles of fabrics. I want to do something with bright colors, whites and blacks so I've eliminated anything brownish or with a cream background or dull colors. When sewing the scraps together, I'm trying to use a bright with a strong contrast or with its complement.

I'm totally going to start on the rest of my scrap sewing tonight and join in! This has GOT to help me get out of my funk and just be able to "sew" without any real direction or thought in it. I have some HST left over pieces already sewn together and that will be fun to throw in. Either way, I can't wait to get started and join in!

Hi Amanda Jean! I am excited to start on your QAL! I have loved your scrap quilts and maybe just need you to hold my hand to get started on one. It is a perfect project to get me back in sewing-mode as will will be returning home soon from 5 weeks in Hawaii ( though I have been hand sewing hexies while watching the ocean waves, which is much better than watching the rainy skies of Minnesota!) your project will be great fun!

Well, you've sure enticed me! I'm a push-over for pretty much any scrappy quilt. My problem is that I don't have scraps like you do. Whenever I have a chunk of fabric leftover, I systematically cut it into 2-1/2" squares and/or 1-1/2" squares, and then toss the little that's left. So I don't have the pairs you've shown in this post. But, I'm game to cut up some of my larger scrap pieces, and hope that in doing so I don't actually make MORE scraps! Throwing up (vomit) never looked so fun!

Oh, this looks like so much fun! However, I barely had time to read a few blog posts and off to the garden once more. It's that time of year when I just have enough time to drool over other people's WIP.

I am very excited! This is perfect for helping me get some of my scrap bins under control, and the resulting quilt is very cute. Thank you for coming up with such a clever way to use up our scraps. Count me in!

I am in too! It may be a longer project than a QAL but I love scrap quilts and I have so many containers of scraps. Like Linda of Flourishing Palms I will have to do a little cutting first, I have been trying to get into a scrap system but not made any head one and a lot of my pieces are too big. I can see a little stack and wack while movie watching this week. What summer fun, thanks!

Thank You, I've started several of these and have scraps already sewn, all the way up to block sizes in several different places, this will motivate me to get them all together and maybe finally finish a top :) Thank You for hosting this event :) Bj in Glendale Arizona

Saw Bonnie Hunters post this morning and just had to hop over to your blog and check it out. 30 minutes later I was in the quilt room pulling out my overflowing scraps. Sewed for 90 minutes than pressed and cut for 90 minutes which resulted in the start of my own scrap vortex quilt. I have a long way to go but I have plenty of scraps to get there.

Okay I will try to keep up....question though - any scraps? Scraps that are warm or cool colored but not mixed? I always have an issue with knowing just how scrappy to make it. I also cut down my scraps into various sizes (and there they sit). Thanks for thinking of it!

I have just made 3 scrappy small quilts for donation and was wondering what to start on next. This idea sounds like a great "next project that I can start now. No more cutting strips and pieces just using what I pick up.

I love the idea and will try and follow along as best I can - I certainly have a huge bucket of scraps that could be used in this project, just not sure about the "same size" thing". Your examples are all squares or rectangles and many of be scrape are long strips.

I came here to say "hi" and that I was thinking about you because our guild is making our next group charity quilt inspired by your apple cake quilt and when I looked it up to share the picture with a few others, I saw your vortex quilt-a-long. Made me scrappy-happy and think I'll join in in my own slow way. Just looks fun!!! Don't know how far, fast or big I'll go with it, but happy to be playing with my scraps. Sure made raiding the guild scrap table fun on Saturday. I'll keep you posted. :)

I'm in even though I really DO NOT need another start. This is just too fun to pass up. I like your suggestion about sorting out fabrics that don't fit the mood of the bright happy category. That will help me feed my 'give away' pile. I will post on Instagram.

I like Amanda's "L" shaped sewing station...mine is like that, with ironing board on right...but....IUse an adjustable office chair with wheels! You can get the "right" height for you, and instead of getting up to press so often, you just twirl on your chair.I havent tried standing to srw but it sounds lile a great idea!!